Cave In
by PrimeEmily135
Summary: Some of our favorite Autobots go to check out an energon deposit. Rated T! And it is now finished!
1. Chapter 1

**A definite Optimus-PrimeXArcee story, hope you guys like it. :) This is pretty much a one-shot that got too big to be one, so I split it up.**

**Disclaimer! I do not own Transformers Prime!**

**(Rated T to be safe).**

* * *

**Part 1**

Optimus Prime watched the human children as they played what they called "Video Games", and _almost_ smiled when the youngest, Rafael, won the racing match against Miko. The two of them were always trying to prove themselves better than one another, which he found almost amusing since they both possessed qualities that the other did not. He had often wished to tell them that they were both good at things, just different things. But he never had gotten around to it.

He watched as Jack clumsily caught the controller that Miko carelessly tossed to him. But his attention was drawn away when Ratchet coughed obviously behind him. Turning around, Optimus brought his full attention to the medic. "Is anything wrong Ratchet?"

Ratchet shook his head. "No, Arcee just reported back."

Optimus' spark skipped a beat, like every time he heard her name spoken. He couldn't help but think about her bright blue and purple optics, smooth polished armor and fiery personality. It was everything that he could ever crave in a femme.

It had been a while since she had gone to him in his time of despair. She had reassured him that he wasn't a failure after being unsuccessful at bringing back the apex armor from the Antarctic. It had been about a month, or maybe a little more since then, but he never forgot the feeling of her lips against his optic. It had been heaven, as the humans would say. Pure heaven is what it felt like to him when he thought that maybe, just maybe, she might feel something for him as he did for her.

He shook himself, bringing his attention back to where he was. "What has she had to report?" he asked professionally.

Ratchet scrolled down something on the green computer screen. "By chance, she uncovered an energon deposit a few clicks north of the place called 'Carlsbad Caverns', a large network of caves I think in New Mexico… From the way she sounded it was a very impressive stash."

Optimus nodded. "Then we must harvest as much as we can, before the Decepticons arrive to pillage the find." He sent a message to Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who were out on patrol, to return to base. Turning back to Ratchet he said, "I will go to the location now. Bridge me there, and when the others return you all will join us."

Ratchet grunted in response, and opened the ground-bridge to him.

X-X-X

Optimus found Arcee at the entrance to a small crevice in the rock. She waved to him in greeting and beckoned him over. He approached slowly, looking at the crack in the rock with interest. He actually stared at the rock to keep himself from staring at the other-much more interesting-company he was with. "How did you find this?" he asked, stooping down to peer inside.

"Picked up the signal easily enough." She said, ducking underneath his hunched body to pass into the cave before him. "After I saw that, I just followed it here. Come on in," she beckoned to him again, "there's enough energon in here to last earth years Optimus. We need to get started right away."

Optimus squeezed through the crack, roughly scratching his paintjob and cracking his windshield.

"You okay?" Arcee asked. "That sounded a bit rough."

He nodded dismissively. "I'm fine, let us just hope that Rachet bridges the others _into_ the cave next time."

Arcee laughed. "Yeah, Bulkhead would have to lose a lot more than his windshield to fit through there." She started down a small passageway that Prime had to transform to get through. "Where are the others?" She asked.

Optimus transformed back and looked around the room. It was alight with the bluish glow of the energon. She had been right, there was enough there to last their small group a long time. That was if the Decepticons didn't find it before they could extract it all. "They are not far behind. They should be here soon." He answered.

A low malicious laugh echoed around the cave and both Autobots jumped to alertness.

Megatron emerged from behind one of the natural earth cave formations. "Very good…" he rubbed his servos together with a wicked smile on his face. "I can scrap them too, after we're finished with you two scrap-heads."

Optimus pushed Arcee's cocked guns towards the floor and gave her a meaningful look of 'stand down now'. Taking a step towards his rival, he spread his arms out in a peaceful manner. "Look around you Megatron. If you misfired even once it would destroy us both. This room would blow sky high!" he tried to reason with him.

Megatron's grin only widened. "I'm counting on it Prime…" cocking his gun, he fired on the Autobots, aiming for Arcee's spark chamber.

"No!" Optimus pushed her down to the floor. There was a sharp pain in his chest. Energon exploded around them. Rocks began to fall. Something hit him and everything went black…

* * *

**Yes, I know this was stupidly short. And y****eah, I know. Not the best work ever. This is kind of a one-shot stretched into a three-shot. So bear with me here. I will hopefully get this silly story done with soon. I just had this idea bothering me for weeks now and I had to get it out. Hope you guys will…well, not totally hate it :P I'll have the next chapter up soon…hopefully.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's part two of Cave In! Here's where things get interesting… (evil laugh) hope you guys like it. :)**

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**Part 2**

It was extremely dark.

Arcee on-lined her optics with a groan, and took a look around. The air was filled with settling dust and there were rocks all around her. She sat up confusedly, trying to remember what had happened. Where was she? What had happened? And _What In The World_ was that wet stuff she was sitting in?

She looked down and nearly choked. She had been lying in a puddle of spilled Energon. She quickly checked her vitals and functions and found herself without issue. She vented in relief but then stiffened. If it wasn't her life-blood, whose was it? Who was with her at the time of the cave in?

_Optimus!_

She looked at the energon, searching for where it was flowing from. "Optimus!" she called out to him, her voice sounding extremely loud in her own processer. It hurt her head. _Ugh, what happened?_ "Prime, where are you?" The puddle of energon, now that she had a good look at it, was more like a lake. She quickly stood up, optics darting to and fro. "Optimus!" she felt her spark clench. What if he was dead? If she had been out for too long and he hurt too badly, he could be… "Orion!" She cried out.

She spun around as a scratchy groan sounded behind her. "Ar…cee-" Optimus coughed harshly. "Over-" He wheezed, "-here…"

Arcee looked around, but to her frustration she just couldn't see him. "That doesn't help at all Optimus. Where are you? I can hardly see a thing." there was a honking sound, that unfortunately bounced off of the walls and echoed around her, followed by some flashing lights. "That's…better…" she looked in the direction of the lights and gasped in surprise.

He was lying in the midst of some rubble from the cave in. His legs were buried by the rocks and his left hand was crushed underneath a bolder. His chest was cracked open and scorched, revealing a damaged spark-chamber where most of the energon was flowing from.

"Optimus!" she ran to his side, her optics involuntarily filling with lubricants. She knelt down beside him, staring at his cracked open chest. She wasn't a medic, well in some cases she'd help Rachet with some things but she wasn't a _doctor_, but she knew what a fatal wound looked like.

"Ar-cee-" Optimus Prime reached out to her with his free hand and touched her arm. "I'm…fine." He wheezed. "Are you….whole?" he coughed energon out of his cooling system.

She nodded.

He seemed to relax, off-lining his optics for a moment with a sigh. "Good."

"Optimus-you're…you're chest it-it…" she stammered, unable to formulate a complete thought.

"Arcee," he stroked her wrist with his finger tips, "stay calm, you need to keep your processor straight if we are to-" he grimaced, "-survive." He gasped, and the faint glow from his spark-chamber flickered.

Arcee forced her tears down. He was right, as he always was. She felt so pathetic around him at times: he was dying and he had a clearer mind then she did. She quickly nodded in understanding. "What should I do?" she asked.

He sighed, furrowing his brow in thought. "Is there _any_ way out?" she uttered a small 'no', and he nodded, obviously expecting that answer. "Contact Ratchet, perhaps he can bridge you back and…" he cringed, and held his servo over the crack in his chest over his spark.

Arcee immediately stood up. "Ratchet?" she tried her com. "Ratchet are you there? Raf? Anybody?" she paced the ground, trying to ignore the energon beneath her feet.

"_Arcee? What happened? I can't get a fix on your signal_." The medic's voice came through with much static interference. "_Where-if you can-back to base-decepticon activity-…now!"_

"Ratchet, you're breaking up!" she hoped her own voice was coming in on their side better. "Ratch, Optimus is hurt, bad! He needs medical attention now! You need to get us out of here. The cave collapsed, we can't get out on our own."

There was no reply.

"Ratchet? Ratchet!" she sighed in frustration. "I've lost him Optimus." She reported, returning to him. She sat down on a rock next to him, feeling completely helpless. She screamed in aggravation. Her leader, her friend, was dying in front of her and she couldn't do anything about it. She felt useless and weak.

Optimus looked at her, his optics gentle and concerned. "Arcee…Everything will be alright." He tried to reassure her.

She quickly regained herself. "Right. You're right… You're a big bot, you have a lot of energon reserves to spare…" she reasoned with herself.

He winced, looking a bit ashamed. "Actually, in truth Arcee…I haven't refueled or recharged in nearly a week's time. My energon levels were only at sixty percent when I left base."

She stared at him in horror. She looked at all the spilt energon around them and then to the liquids still pouring from her fearless leader. "What are your stats now?" she asked shakily, rubbing her servos together nervously.

He off-lined his optics again, "I'm at thirty-two percent." He quickly silenced her, taking her hand in his and squeezing it firmly. "Arcee, I really-n-need your help. I need you to get these rocks off of me. My systems are overloading from all the combined operations I've been having them do. I've cut off all energon circulation to my legs and put them into stasis lock but if you don't get them unburied soon they will be more or less useless after this. They're being crushed."

She nodded quickly. "I'm on it." but she started with pushing the larger rock off of his servo. He yelped in pain as he regained feeling to his previously stasis-set servo. She then continued to un-pile the rocks from the rest of his body. She winced every time he groaned or otherwise reacted to the pain he was in.

Once she was finished freeing him from the debris he sighed again. "Now... I understand if you won't do this but-" he paused as if about to say something he might possibly regret. "-there are some rocks inside my chest damaging my spark. If you could-"

She didn't give him a chance to finish. "It's okay Optimus, I'll do It." she knew how awkward it was to have someone look into your spark chamber. It was something reserved for medics and sparkmates only, and she was neither. It was embarrassing on both their accounts, so she hurried and didn't hesitate to slip her small servos into the crack in his chest. She tried her best not to look at the glowing orb that her fingers were so close to touching, but that of course made it harder to find the rocks.

Optimus ex-vented and averted his optics. "You can look Arcee, I trust you."

She tried for a few minutes to continue the procedure blindly, but finally gave in and looked. And it was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. She had seen other sparks before, but all paled in comparison to his bright magnificent spark. Bright blue\white, large with the overall sense of purity and kindness, is what she saw in it. She stared transfixed at it for what seemed like forever before Optimus coughed awkwardly, bringing her back to where she was.

She quickly resumed her search for the rubble within him and soon dislodged it. She tried her best not to touch his spark but once she brushed a finger against it and felt him shudder. "Sorry…" she whispered, digging her hand under his spark in an attempt to get the last large rock out.

He gasped as she slipped and touched it again, but it wasn't a pain filled sound. "It's-it is alright…"

"There." She tossed the small rock over her shoulder and rested her hand on his chest. "Does that feel better?"

He nodded thankfully, "Yes…"

* * *

Three hours later Arcee paced amongst the stones and natural rock formations that trapped them. Ratchet had not contacted them and Optimus was still losing energon. She glanced over her shoulder at him. He may have been calm and collected a few hours before, but she had noticed his outward emotions crumbling. He was scared. She could see it in his optics. He was scared for his life, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"What's your stat?" she asked again, for what seemed the millionth time. But she'd be the first to admit she was worried about him so she didn't really care how much she asked how he was doing.

He took a deep breath and closed his optics. "I'm at twenty-one percent energon, thirteen percent power…and I'm in pain."

She finally gave up her pacing, and sat down beside him. "You're going to be okay." She reassured him, stroking his faceplate in a comforting manner. He actually smiled halfway at her, brushing his fingers over her servo.

"No Arcee, I'm not going to be 'okay' and you know it… I have gone through decepticon torture, losing my mind and betrayal. But you lying to me has to be the worst punishment I could ever endure, please let it stop." He looked at her pleadingly.

She nodded solemnly. "Yes sir."

"No, no sirs-not now." He caressed her cheek. "Arcee I'm dying, it's just you and me. We are two Cybertronians right now and nothing else. No rank. No title of Prime. Just two-" he paused, "-friends…" a deep sense of pain, beyond the realm of physical, crept into his optics. "Arcee if you can find it in your spark, I just need someone to be close to right now. Please…" If a Prime could beg, he was doing just that.

Arcee felt her spark clench and she again had to control the tears about to fall. She nodded slowly, feeling completely at a loss. "What do you want me to do?"

He was quiet for a time, as if searching for the right thing to say. "Just…" he bit down on his bottom lip, "stay close to me…"

Suddenly, she understood what he was trying to say. And she understood why he was having a hard time saying it. He had been separated from other bots since he became Prime. He hadn't had any closeness since then and, even though he hadn't admitted it before, he missed it. It wasn't just the closeness of friendship either. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Although she wouldn't _ever_ admit it, she had always wanted to do what she now would.

She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, pressing her face against his chest. "I'm not going anywhere." She whispered against him comfortingly.

He slowly wrapped his good arm around her waist and held her close to him. "Thank-you Arcee." The words seemed to be deeper then she felt she would ever realize.

* * *

They had laid there in silence, still in their gentle embrace, for near a half an hour before Optimus' breath hitched. Arcee looked him over worriedly and she swore she saw his life flash before his eyes, if that was even possible.

After a few second he choked out the words that were on both their minds. "Eleven percent energon and five percent power…" he locked optics with her. "Arcee, I'm finished…I'm-I'm sorry…"

"No, don't say that!" she begged, cupping his cheek in a servo.

He looked up at her sadly. "I'm sorry…" and then she felt his hand move up her back, caressing her winglets before finding its place at the base of her neck. Before she could do more than yelp in surprise, he pulled her down atop him and crashed his lips with hers.

It shocked her to her core! She felt completely at loss, but soon gave in to the motion and let herself melt into the moment. She let him kiss her and even pecked his lips back. It was a strange feeling as he made the contact even deeper. He growled or groaned, she couldn't tell which, and she felt his grip on her tighten. His glossa tasted her lips and she immediately granted him access to explore her mouth.

He growled and the kiss became more intense. He rolled her over onto her back and pressed harder into her. Even in his weakened state he demanded control.

She gasped when he finally pulled away, but her relief was very short lived. His vocal processor crackled and his optics suddenly dimmed. He collapsed beside her, taking deep intakes with a dawning realization on his face.

"Optimus!" she panicked. She didn't know what to do! He was dying right in front of her!

He thrashed about a little, the growing pain reaching a breaking point. He screamed and grabbed the closest thing he could reach, which was unfortunately Arcee's winglet. She felt it bend at the sudden grab and yelped in pain. And then it suddenly all stopped. He let go of her and gasped for breath.

"I'm sorry Arcee!" he wheezed. "I'm sorry for everything…" His optics finally off-lined and he went limp.

She stared at him and finally let her built up tears escape. "No!" she shook her head. It couldn't be happening, it just couldn't! "No!" she peered into the crack in his chest and saw that his spark had dimmed, but had not completely gone out…

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**So… yup. What do yah think? Next Chapter will be the last in this small story, I will hopefully have it up soon. But not too soon, I have to work on my Mario story "All is Fair in Love and War" now. But I promise I will not forget this :)**

**Please leave a review and tell me what you think! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**And now for the conclusion! :) If you don't like what happens to poor Opty don't kill me! :)**

**Part 3**

It was dark and Arcee's spark felt cold. As she watched him from the other side of the cave, he hadn't moved. He was so still. If she didn't know that he was just in stasis lock she would've thought he was dead, which he would be very soon.

"Ratchet what's your stat?" she commed the medical officer. They had finally re-established contact a few moments after Prime went dark.

"We're almost through Arcee. Just stay right where you are!"

* * *

Darkness…

Pain…

Then…Nothingness…

He was adrift in empty space. There was no sound, no light, and no feeling. He tried to regain consciousness but he couldn't wake himself from his current state. An awful idea occurred to him, but how could fate be so cruel? _Am I one with the Allspark?_ The thought drove him insane. After so long of fighting and struggling, it was done? _How could that be?_

He felt his spark-rate quicken.

Wait… He felt it? Something exploded in his chest, and he screamed. His optics slowly on-lined and he took shaky intakes. His sight was blurred by built up energon fluids but he could just make out the outline of a red and white medic, the bot's blue optics alight with intent and worry.

He tried to speak to him but found his vocal processor locked up. Another surge of agony from his spark-chamber and he blacked out again…

* * *

"Prime! Prime!" Ratchet's voice called to him from beyond the black void. "Prime, slag it! Respond!"

Opening his optics he blinked once, twice, and everything came into focus. He gasped in intakes. There was still so much pain! Forget being lied to by Arcee, this was the worst pain he had ever felt, _ever_! He shook himself, trying to clear his processor. Wait… Arcee… he looked around him. He was in the med-bay. There were empty energon containers all around him, tools, and one thoroughly relieved medic. But Arcee was nowhere to be seen.

He shook his head again. Arcee was with him in the cave in… there was energon everywhere… Was she dead?

He bolted up into a sitting position. "Arcee! Where is she?" he gasped when every system in his body reported overheated. Ratchet put a hand on his chest and pushed him back into a laying position.

"Optimus, she's fine. She went to take Jack home…after much insistence that her standing over my shoulder wasn't going to help you at all." Ratchet smiled slightly. "You had us all worried Prime."

Optimus took a calming breath and ex-vented slowly. "What happened? All I remember was the cave in, Arcee was there…She helped dig some rubble out of my spark-chamber…and then I…" he stopped, optics growing wide. "Pit! I am such an AFT!" he buried his face in his hands when he remembered what he had done. He noted that Ratchet looked at him startled, he never cursed. "I…I…" he couldn't believe that he had _kissed_ her! He was her _leader_, _not_ her lover! He promised himself he would never do anything of the sort to her. "Am I Slagged in the Processor?"

Ratchet clasped his shoulder firmly. "Calm down, I'm sure whatever happened couldn't have been that bad…" he looked at him confusedly. "Arcee didn't say anything, maybe you're overreacting?" Optimus shook his head, completely ignoring his friend's words. Ratchet sighed. "You were dying Optimus, I'm sure whatever happened was well justified."

Prime groaned. No, it wasn't. There was no way what he had done was justifiable. He slowed his breathing and looked around. The children were gone, and so were all the other Autobots. "Ratchet, help me to my quarters…please."

"Optimus, I don't think you should be standing right now." The medic looked over some charts. "I had to rewire some of the parts in your legs, they were highly damaged."

He sat up again, this time ignoring the pain that filled his sensors. "That's why I asked you to help me…" he cringed as he stepped off of the berth. Ratchet, as he had suspected, caught him before he could fall down.

"Oh fine!" Ratchet rolled his optics and lead him down the hall.

* * *

Optimus lay on his recharge berth, thinking over what had occurred in the cave. He continued to silently curse himself for his rash actions. Ratchet had said that Arcee didn't mention anything had happened, not that he knew anything either. Was she afraid to say anything? Or was she being the kind friend she was, and keeping it a secret to protect him?

There was a soft nock at his door.

He groaned and tried to sit up, but couldn't and collapsed back onto the berth. "Come in…" he beckoned. He watched the door slide open with dread, and Arcee came in.

At first they just looked at each other, neither of them knowing what to say. He did a quick look over her, but just as Ratchet had said, she was unharmed. He sighed in relief at that.

"Ratchet said that you wanted to see me?" Arcee finally broke the silence.

He nodded, "Yes…" he shifted a bit uneasily. "I wanted to apologize to you Arcee, for what happened back there-"

She shook her head quickly, "Optimus don't, you're beating yourself up about nothing."

"No Arcee, it is not nothing." He insisted, forcing himself to sit up. She instinctively went to help him, but he waved her off and propped his back against the wall. "And I must apologize…"

"Optimus…" She ignored his gestures and sat down beside him on his berth. "I get it… You thought you were going to die, any other mech would've done the same…"

"I'm not just a mech, Arcee I'm a Prime. I'm supposed to be better than that." He said firmly, his optics narrowing on a spot on the wall. He couldn't bring himself to look into her optics.

She huffed and grabbed his chin with one hand, turning it so he would look at her. "_Orion_, you're a _mech_. You were _born_ a mech, and you will _die_ a mech. The title of Prime will never change _anything_." Her gaze hardened. "You're not perfect, just like the rest of us. You make mistakes like any other bot, and you need to stop beating yourself up about them!" after that her tone softened and she let him go. "And besides, I don't blame you for what you did: Any mech would've done the same. I mean, no mech wants to die a virgin…"

His mouth fell agape.

Only after a few moments did he managed to sputter. "Interfacing was the last thing on my mind Arcee!"

She almost smiled, "But it was on your mind?"

He looked at her horrified and exasperatedly. "Arcee-" he paused, realized just what she had said before. "Wait-how-?" he stuttered, absolutely baffled. "How did you know that I'm-" he coughed, clearing his throat. "How…" his vocal processor suddenly stopped working. How could she have known that?

A realizing expression dawned on Arcee. "Oh, Optimus I'm so sorry." She raised her hands apologetically, looking a little embarrassed herself. "I didn't know that…well, that you didn't know that I knew…"

"H-how did you know that?" he finally choked out. He could feel his faceplates started to heat up. Out of all the conversations he had thought would take place right then, this was the most unexpected.

"Oh goodness, Optimus what Autobot _doesn't_ know that?"

If he hadn't been sitting he was sure he would've collapsed. Everyone knew?

He looked down at the floor, feeling completely violated of his privacy. The biggest secret he thought he had was common knowledge amongst them. The thought of it made him want to go into recharge and never awake. _Ignorance is certainly bliss._ He thought to himself.

"Optimus, it's okay." She assured him, placing a comforting hand on one of his larger ones. "It's not a bad thing. Actually, a lot of bots admire you for it…You know, because you _are_ a mech, and-"

"Arcee." He interrupted her, not wanting to hear any more of what she wanted to say about him. "Can we forget this whole thing ever happened?"

She looked a little taken aback.

"Can we pretend that nothing ever happened in that cave or ever was spoken in this room?" he almost wanted to beg to her. Honestly, he didn't want to _forget_ what it was like when he kissed her, but if it kept her quiet about what happened it was for the better.

"Pretend what didn't happen?" she asked, giving him a knowing wink before walking to the door. There she stopped, looking over her shoulder at him. "You know Optimus, you are just a mech. And no one here would blame you for having regular emotions from time to time…" in her voice there was something hidden. He almost wanted to think that she was hinting something to him, but brushed the thought aside when she just left afterwards.

He groaned as he lay back down on his berth. His spark hurt, and not just because of the damage to his chest. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth that he was attracted to her, but he couldn't. He could never tell her. It was for her own safety that he didn't, and if keeping her safe meant that he couldn't express his love for her well…that was a price he would pay.

_How could everyone have known?_ He thought with another groan. He thought he had hid that fact very well. To find that everyone already knew…Well, it made him feel like a stupid aft.

* * *

**Hey everybody! sorry this was so long in the making. And now to explain my weirdness. I had an idea, need I say a really silly one, what would it be like if Optimus had never interfaced? Stupid I know, but fun to write. :)**

**So yeah, hope it wasn't too disappointing an ending. And to those who thought I would actually kill Optimus, I could never do that! He's just too awesome... ;)**

**Leave a review, or PM. Thanks for reading! :)**


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